The area covered by this Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) comprises about 20,930 square kilometres of land and waters, located 53 kilometres northwest of Toowoomba in the state of Queensland. The ILUA area is in the vicinity of Miles, Chinchilla, Tara and Dalby. It falls within the jurisdiction of the South Burnett Regional Council, the Toowoomba Regional Council, the Western Downs Regional Council and the Maranoa Regional Council.

Legal Status:

Registered with the National Native Title Tribunal on the Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements on 22 December 2010. This is an authorised Area Agreement under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).

This Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) was agreed between QGC Pty Limited and Patricia Conlon and others on 13 March 2010. The purpose of this ILUA is to provide consent for a range of acts in relation to QGC's Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project, whether or not these are future acts.

Detailed Information:

This ILUA relates to QGC's Queensland Curtis LNG Project, which involves the production of coal seam gas in the Surat Basin, Queensland, both for domestic and export markets. The project consists of the exploration, planning, construction, operation, maintenance and ultimate decommissioning of QGC's gas fields in the Surat Basin. More specifically, the project includes gas fields, export pipelines, processing plants, water management facilities, access tracks and other infrastructure.

Pursuant to this ILUA, the parties agree to the doing of the following acts within the ILUA area in relation to the Queensland Curtis LNG Project, whether or not they constitute future acts:

The grant of the project rights to QGC Pty Limited, and the implementation of these project rights;

The planning, investigation, construction, operation and maintenance of the Queensland Curtis LNG Project, and the doing of all work that is necessary or incidental to the Project; and

The decommissioning of the Project and the rehabilitation of all affected land.

The parties also agree that the right to negotiate provisions in Subdivision P, Division 3, Part 2 of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) do not apply to any future acts for which consent has been given under this ILUA.

Background to native title in the ILUA area

A group consisting of the Barunggam, Cobble Cobble, Jarowair, Western Wakka Wakka and Yiman families was identified by QGC as being affected by the Project. None of these parties have registered native title claims over the ILUA area, although they have expressed that they hold rights and interests in the area. The Barunggam People lodged a native title claim over approximately 16,198 square kilometres of land and waters in South West Queensland on 21 May 2010 (Tribunal File No.: QC10/2; Federal Court File No.: QUD178/10). Their application was not accepted for registration. The Western Wakka Wakka People lodged a native title claim over approximately 32,941 square kilometres of land and waters in Central Queensland on 27 January 1999 (Tribunal File No.: QC99/4; Federal Court File No.: QG6004/99). Their application was struck out in Beattie on behalf of Western Wakka Wakka Peoples v State of Queensland [2007] FCA 596 (27 April 2007). The Jarowair People lodged a native title claim over land and waters in South East Queensland on 5 July 2000 ((Tribunal File No.: QC00/5; Federal Court File No.: QUD6005/00). This application was discontinued on 28 January 2003. The Cobble Cobble and Yiman People are yet to lodge any native title claims over land in Queensland.